The Replacements

Hey, kids! Remember last summer when we released the limited-edition vinyl box set featuring all of the albums released by The Replacements during their tenure on Twin/Tone Records? Sure you do! And now it’s time for us to release a similar set for the studio albums they issued whilst on Sire Records!

Can you guess what it’s going to be called? That’s right: The Sire Years!

Now that we’re all settled into 2016, it’s time to remind you of something new we’ve got for this new year of ours that – hooray! – kicks off tomorrow.

As most music consumers know, January tends to be a month that’s relatively devoid of new releases, with record companies often still frazzled from the holiday season that they’re still just trying to get their heads together for the first few weeks of the year. We here at Rhino are doing our darnedest to try and change that, and our first step involves our Start Your Ear Off Right campaign, with which we’ll be delivering a variety of exclusive reissues from our back catalog that’ll have you chomping at the bit to place an order.

When we ushered in 2016, we resolved to change the musically barren wasteland known as January. On January 19th, Rhino will "Start Your Ear Off Right" with 17 titles from revolutionary acts including Bad Company, The Cars, Devo, Grateful Dead, The Monkees, The Replacements and The Velvet Underground. The albums will only be available at participating brick and mortar retail outlets. Check out the full list of albums and retailers here.

34 years ago today, a rag-tag bunch of young punks from Minneapolis released their debut album, a rough and raucous affair that helped underline that there was more to the alt-rock scene (not that it was being called that at the time) than just the east coast and the west coast.

As legendary as The Replacements are, never before have the albums recorded by the band during their gloriously ramshackle early years been compiled into a vinyl box set. Oh, sure, just about everything else has been compiled into some set or other, but we double-checked, and we’re relatively confident that The Twin/Tone Years is the first time that the ‘Mats’ first three LPs and the Stink EP have ever gotten this particular treatment…and if by some chance we’re wrong about this (even though we’re pretty sure we’re not), it’s definitely the first time these albums have enjoyed a vinyl pressing over two decades.

If you’re new to the Replacements’ back catalog, then you’re probably wondering, “Say, you mentioned the Stink EP, but what are those first three albums?” Well, allow us to fill you in.

The Replacements recently returned to the UK after a 24-year hiatus - and blew The Roundhouse away with two nights of energetic rock, passionate ballads, punk riffs, and the melodic American rock. Here is the setlist from the first night.

The Replacements: you know them, you love them, you can’t live without them, and apparently you won’t be able to get any more of them, given what Paul Westerberg said onstage during the band’s performance at Barcelona’s Primavera Porto back in June. So much for that reunion album that they’d been talking about, apparently, but, hey, that doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy the albums they’ve already released.

Yes, we know, we’ve done a few of these reissues already, but if you’re a ‘Mats purist who believes that the band was never the same after they signed to Sire, then you’ll dig this: we’re releasing a new limited-edition, numbered box set entitled The Twin/Tone Years.

The Mats may be now gone (again!!!), but they’re not forgotten! Rhino has released an eight-disc boxed set of the seven decent albums and one OK EP that helped define the ‘Mats acclaimed 11-year run. THE COMPLETE STUDIO ALBUMS 1981-1990 includes: SORRY MA, FORGOT TO TAKE OUT THE TRASH (1981), STINK (1982), HOOTENANNY (1983), LET IT BE (1984), TIM (1985), PLEASED TO MEET ME (1987), DON’T TELL A SOUL (1989), and ALL SHOOK DOWN (1990). Rhino also reissued the classic Europe-only ALEX CHILTON EP, with the 10” coming out as one of the top selling pieces of wax on 2015 Record Store Day.

1981 was an action-packed year! The Dodgers won the World Series, the Pope got shot, and American Airlines introduced “frequent flyer miles” (much to the chagrin of the air traffic controllers). Wait, there’s more! 1981 is also the year that Charles & Di got married, Sadat got shot, and we started making babies in test tubes. And, if that weren’t enough, 1981 saw the launch of the Post-It note, MS-DOS, and MTV! Whew! I need a nap. (BTW, here’s some music.)